I notice both of these ROMs have been getting a lot of activity on this forum over the past weeks. I've recently flashed these two ROMs and gave them a workout for a week or so...nothing scientific, just normal usage. Here are my general impressions...again, I'm not a scientific reviewer, so YMMV.
Functionality: Both of these ROMs are based on HTC Sense, although they've both been optimized and significantly speeded up. Both come with the Sprint Hotspot hack allowing free use of the Sprint hotspot feature (note this only works with 3G though). Both also come with the Wireless Tether app as well, which supports 4G and 3G in ad-hoc mode. MikFroyo also comes with a few other goodies: notification widgets to turn on/off network functions, Hulu, and a few others. I actually liked the fact that Azrael comes with a version of Titanium Backup in the ROM...this makes it easier to restore your apps immediately after flashing. Azrael also comes with apps2sd (free version), which I recommend for moving your apps to your SD card. Azrael's ROM allows me to free up over 220mb of internal phone memory, which is more than MikFroyo (although not by much, they're comparable but every mb counts). I find that having that much free memory has probably the biggest impact on my Evo's stability...thanks, Azrael!
Speed: MikFroyo gets a lot of props for having the fastest custom Sense ROM available. My informal tests show that while Mik is definitely faster than stock, Azrael performs better (at least for me). My Evo is hw version 0003, and I have netarchy's 4.3.2 SBC non-havs kernel. With Azrael, scrolling is noticeably faster and lag is virtually non-existent, while with Mik my phone is still laggy when scrolling (although transitions are quite snappy). Azrael's ROM gives me significantly higher quadrant scores...typically in the high 1300's and even the low 1400's, while Mik's are in the high 1200's and low 1300's. I know that quadrant scores aren't the be-all and end-all, but they continue to be a good predictor of performance for me...and for me, Azrael is faster. (Note I have my Evo overclocked to 1190mHz for both ROMs).
Battery life: I think this is more of a function of the kernel you are running rather than the ROM. Having said that, running netarchy's SBC kernel with Azrael, I'm finally getting the kind of battery life out of my Seidio extended battery that I paid for (and never got). I now get 12 to 16 hours with moderate to heavy use without recharging, whereas before I would get less than 8 with the extended battery. There have been a number of posts about potential problems (if you consider an exploding battery a problem), but I haven't seen any problems of this type...on the contrary, I used to have occasional problems with the battery overheating (and causing reboots) that seem to have disappeared.
Miscellaneous: I know this is a matter of personal preference, but I preferred Azrael's ROM to Mik's out of the box. The bootup transition for MikFroyo is a bit gaudy (a flashing "MikFroyo"), while Azrael just uses the standard "htc quietly brilliant) which is a more low-key. I also like the built-in transitions that Azrael provides, although I recommend using Spare Parts to speed them up...although I'm sure that custom transitions can be applied to Mik as well. I do like the fact that Mik provides the notification widgets for controlling net functions, but I'm hoping Azrael will build those (and other goodies such as Hulu) into his next version.
Overall: While both of these ROMs get the job done and perform much better than stock, I have to give the edge to Azrael. His ROM has finally made my Evo into what it should have been out of the box...smooth, fast, and lag-free, with all the functionality I need. I'm not sure why there aren't more threads dedicated to Azrael on this forum, but I'm officially a fan who's looking forward to his next version!
Functionality: Both of these ROMs are based on HTC Sense, although they've both been optimized and significantly speeded up. Both come with the Sprint Hotspot hack allowing free use of the Sprint hotspot feature (note this only works with 3G though). Both also come with the Wireless Tether app as well, which supports 4G and 3G in ad-hoc mode. MikFroyo also comes with a few other goodies: notification widgets to turn on/off network functions, Hulu, and a few others. I actually liked the fact that Azrael comes with a version of Titanium Backup in the ROM...this makes it easier to restore your apps immediately after flashing. Azrael also comes with apps2sd (free version), which I recommend for moving your apps to your SD card. Azrael's ROM allows me to free up over 220mb of internal phone memory, which is more than MikFroyo (although not by much, they're comparable but every mb counts). I find that having that much free memory has probably the biggest impact on my Evo's stability...thanks, Azrael!
Speed: MikFroyo gets a lot of props for having the fastest custom Sense ROM available. My informal tests show that while Mik is definitely faster than stock, Azrael performs better (at least for me). My Evo is hw version 0003, and I have netarchy's 4.3.2 SBC non-havs kernel. With Azrael, scrolling is noticeably faster and lag is virtually non-existent, while with Mik my phone is still laggy when scrolling (although transitions are quite snappy). Azrael's ROM gives me significantly higher quadrant scores...typically in the high 1300's and even the low 1400's, while Mik's are in the high 1200's and low 1300's. I know that quadrant scores aren't the be-all and end-all, but they continue to be a good predictor of performance for me...and for me, Azrael is faster. (Note I have my Evo overclocked to 1190mHz for both ROMs).
Battery life: I think this is more of a function of the kernel you are running rather than the ROM. Having said that, running netarchy's SBC kernel with Azrael, I'm finally getting the kind of battery life out of my Seidio extended battery that I paid for (and never got). I now get 12 to 16 hours with moderate to heavy use without recharging, whereas before I would get less than 8 with the extended battery. There have been a number of posts about potential problems (if you consider an exploding battery a problem), but I haven't seen any problems of this type...on the contrary, I used to have occasional problems with the battery overheating (and causing reboots) that seem to have disappeared.
Miscellaneous: I know this is a matter of personal preference, but I preferred Azrael's ROM to Mik's out of the box. The bootup transition for MikFroyo is a bit gaudy (a flashing "MikFroyo"), while Azrael just uses the standard "htc quietly brilliant) which is a more low-key. I also like the built-in transitions that Azrael provides, although I recommend using Spare Parts to speed them up...although I'm sure that custom transitions can be applied to Mik as well. I do like the fact that Mik provides the notification widgets for controlling net functions, but I'm hoping Azrael will build those (and other goodies such as Hulu) into his next version.
Overall: While both of these ROMs get the job done and perform much better than stock, I have to give the edge to Azrael. His ROM has finally made my Evo into what it should have been out of the box...smooth, fast, and lag-free, with all the functionality I need. I'm not sure why there aren't more threads dedicated to Azrael on this forum, but I'm officially a fan who's looking forward to his next version!
